Will India’s pocket-friendly health model work in Kenya?
Patients in a hospital ward: Doctors are on strike to press for better pay and work conditions. Indian start-ups are trying to fill the gap created by public health care neglect . PHOTO | FILE
The Indian healthcare system’s cost containment success has been hailed as a panacea for resource limited health setups. India boasts a high number of skilled health personnel, medical specialists and diagnostic infrastructure, at least on the basis of comparisons with nations of similar demographic patterns. She has become an important destination for specialised care out of reach to patients elsewhere either due to unavailability or high costs.
In contrast, Kenya’s health system has higher costs for similar level of services. It costs you more to see a consultant in Nairobi as well as for complex medical procedures like surgeries than in India. But it isn’t just our costs that are high, we have a shortage of consultant doctors across many specialties. What seems to be working in our favour though is that while the majority of Kenyans can’t afford specialists care, a growing middle class is not only placing demand on this needed, but essential service.
While many Kenyans travel to India for medical care, especially for surgeries, the travel costs means outpatient services are not feasible due to the time and logistics involved. Several Indian health start-ups have seen the opportunity and are attempting to import the model locally.
Over the last few years at least three as assessed by their market visibility and operations are on the ground. Their success is yet to be seen given the timelines it takes to break even on such a scale. I have been privileged to visit at least two of such start-ups on several occasions. One feels the buzz and infectious optimism of these operators.
No doubt Kenya’s private health sector is on a growth trajectory judging by the increasing number of patients seen due to the ailing public health infrastructure.
While they are growing over time, there is need for caution particularly for those with desires to scale up the operations to multiple outpatient clinics given the ongoing public healthcare reforms movement.
Over the last 70 days, Kenyan doctors have downed their tools urging the government to improve terms of working, better infrastructure, increase number of personnel, their remuneration and working terms. The overall objective is to make public hospitals work and offer quality care. The latter in particular has been the major reason for patients shunning public hospitals.
Such private facilities have been doing good business. It is also unlikely that the strike will cure the cause of the decay in public health. A potential fallout from the dragged negotiations may also see exits for some doctors. Already a few have migrated to the private sector and others may opt to start their own private practices.
The success of the Indian health firms at home may be anchored on several factors that may not necessarily apply in the context of the Kenyan sector.
For one the “capitalist” nature of our services while good for them also means competition is stiff and the high volume low costs model may not work.
